10 shits nurses face that you probably didn’t know of

Last Updated on 2016-05-20 , 9:53 am

Okay, it has been known recently that nurses do not have it as good as we thought, and they have their own troubles and difficulties during their work. But how much do we really know about them, and the difficulties they face?

Here are 10 shits nurses face that you probably didn’t know about. Nurses out there, do you agree with us?

Dealing with the doctor’s largely unreadable handwriting
Think you have it bad from one doctor’s appointment? Imagine how nurses feel having to face and attempt to decipher their words every single day.

The pure pressure of having people’s lives at your hands and having 0 space for errors
Nurses are often depicted as medical fairies that float around smiling and taking care of sick people’s needs, but behind this is a very real stress of not having room to make mistakes. A small slip up could result in a loss of life. Ready for this kind of pressure? I’m not.

Emergency response
Normal people like us will not experience many, or hopefully any, medical emergencies in our life, but being a nurse means you need to know how to react when someone’s condition is suddenly deteriorating and requires immediate action. Again, another pressure that normal people will probably be unable to handle.

Unreasonable and unfair scolding
You would think a hospital is a calm and quiet place where people are respectful. Wrong. Nurses still have to deal with being scolded for little, insignificant things, and the worst part is they cannot retaliate.

Ignorant gender comments
For male nurses, they still face the traditional, eye-roll worthy comment of “Huh that’s such a girl job!” Caring for the sick is not a role for any specific gender, it’s 2016, please update your mindset!

Unrealistic stereotypes
Female nurses are depicted as gorgeous and perfect on TV dramas, but in reality they have better things to do, like keep people alive. Don’t be unfair in terms of your expectations of them, okay?

Shitty work hours
Long, tiring shifts means little quality time with family. You might think your job is equally long and tiring, but factor in the mental and physical stress on nurses and you might probably realize you’re better off than them.

Rude comments from friends/family
“Eh, you become a nurse because you cannot get into Medicine and become a doctor is it?”  This stigma is absolutely unnecessary and super hurtful. How would you feel like if you had a genuine interest in caring for people but got this remark thrown at you? Please be more sensitive, people.

Superstition
Chinese people like to consider hospitals as a place of bad luck, so good luck to you if you have superstitious relatives that look at you weirdly when you tell them you’re a nurse. It’s as if they expect germs to jump off you and suddenly kill them. Please la.

The literal Shit
Nurses don’t just take blood pressure and give medicine, they also have to deal with patients having to go to the toilet, and sometimes clean up after those that aren’t as mobile. Mad respect.

There are many misconceptions surrounding Nurses, but at the end of the day, we cannot deny how important they are and that we need to give them respect and treat them fairly because they are humans too after all.

Top Image: imtmphoto / Shutterstock.com